Aftershock
by ImmortalDecay
Summary: After befriending fellow cell mate Jay, Ty Lee and Mai accumulate an escape plan with him to break out of the Boiling Rock to their freedom and hunt down the despicable Azula. What will they do when they encounter her? Kill her? Or spare her?
1. The Man With the Plan

" _I guess you don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko, more than I fear you."_

"_No, you miscalculated! You should've feared me more! You're both fools!" _

"_What shall we do with them princess?"_

"_Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again, and let them rot!"_

Ever since then, I was cursed with the burden of two new cellmates, Mai and Ty Lee. Ty Lee is a a tad annoying to me, she's just way to happy to be in this hell. Mai is okay, doesn't talk much unless spoken to, and barely even talks then. So it's pretty much just me, Jay, all by myself in this crowded little cage.

I've been in her for what… two years now? I think… but anyway, I don't really see myself as a criminal, more like a savior. For some odd reason, the fire nation took the fact that I defended my home as an insult, so I am now stuck in here. Oh well, maybe someday I'll--

"Hello? Earth to Jay!" said a cheery voice right in front of my face. I opened my eyes to see the pale and dimwitted grin of Ty Lee, the pink bunny as I like to call her.

"What?" I responded with an agitated tone.

"Do you want lunch or what?"

I got out of my dusty bed, one without sheets and a pillow, and followed Ty Lee and Mai out the door. The cafeteria was small, very crowded, and everyone stole your food. Not very mannerly, but hey, it's the home of the most notorious criminals, what do you expect? I walked up to the line where Ty Lee was impatiently awaiting her 2nd meal of the day, lunch. Mai didn't care, she sort of just stood there with her hands inside of her long red prison uniform.

"I wonder what were having today! Maybe sloppy joes! Wait, no… we had those yesterday… do they serve lunch twice in a row? I don't know, I should ask the warden sometime, but he'll probably just yell at me like the time he did when--"

"Does she ever shut up?" I whispered to Mai under my breath.

"Never."

Finally. After a long wait, we get our long deserved meal. Bleh, whale blubber. It's not the taste I don't like, it just seems that ever since I came here, all I've done is gained weight. I think it's that wahle blubber. Lucky for me, I managed to grab the last fish crescent and a bowl of beans. This will tide me over until dinner hopefully.

Third table form the back, always. This is where all of the good people were, the ones that didn't steal your food anyway. I took a seat as far away from Ty Lee as I could, for I have seen the way she acts at lunch; stuffing her face full of food, spitting it back out like a catapult as she talks. Luckily there was an open seat next to Crush, the bandit. Oddly, this bandit didn't steal my food.

About halfway through my bowl of beans, Ty Lee somehow managed to hop across the table and sit next to me on the floor. Hooray for me.

"How did you get here anyway? I mean, we've lived in the same cell for almost a week now, shouldn't we know something about you?" Ty Lee preached to me. I gave her a 'go away I hate you' glare, but she obviously didn't take the hint. I'm guessing this because by now she was sniffing my food asking me the same question over and over. It seemed the only way to get her off my back is to answer her.

"Well… I was in the Elite Four awhile back; a group of highly trained weaponry artists who specialized in sneak attacks and assaults. As their leader, it was my duty to train the members and carry out our missions. When our town came under attack by a raid of fire nation ships, the Elite Four wasn't prepared to defend the town single handedly. There were a few other soldiers, and a few water benders alongside us, but we were no match for the fire navy. As our forces dwindled, I surrendered to them completely. Why would I risk my life knowing I can only, if lucky, take out a mere three soldiers at the most with my spiked whip. After they apprehended me, they took me here, to the Boiling Rock. I still don't know what happened to the rest of the Elite Four though… I'm guessing they were killed…"

"Aww poor thing! Don't be so negative! I bet their alive out there somewhere!"

"What does it matter anyway? I'm in this prison for life, according to the warden. Even if they were right outside these walls, there's no way I'd ever see them again." And that was true. I would never leave the prison even if my life depended on it. If I managed to make it outside the prison, there'd still be the boiling water moat blocking my path to freedom. Under no circumstances would I ever try to escape.

"Well we can get you out!" Ty Lee insisted with glee.

"No. There's no possible way. And don't say 'the gondolas' because I already know they go across the water to the outside. But despite that, there are mass forces of fir navy soldiers around every corner, not to mention the prisoners squealing on us to get an extra shower token."

"He's right Ty Lee, there's no way in or out of this place unless you're a soldier." Mai said from across the table. I bought some time for us three to talk alone by asking Crush to take my trash for me.

"Well that's it! All we have to do is dress up like the soldiers and come and go as we please!" Ty Lee yelled. Even though she's so young, it should till be obvious to keep your voice down during a secret escape chat. That plan was never going to work anyway. I could easily get the uniform around my shoulder length hair, but the blackness of it would show through for sure, but to mention my blue eyes. As for Ty Lee and Mai, I don't know how they'd hide they're hair at all.

"We have no access to the uniforms anyway Ty Lee." Mai was right, how would we get three fitting uniforms from this place? I have no weapons, nor does Mai… but Ty Lee does have her hands still. But the racket we would cause… no, it's out of the question, I will /not/ escape like that.

"No, it would be to much chaos to get the uniforms. Ty Lee, can you tightrope walk?" Ty Lee nodded, "Great, well I know for sure that when new prisoners arrive, they come her on a warship down by the harbor. If Ty Lee can run across the gondola's long enough to get to the warship, she can take out the few captains of the ship. Then me and Mai will make a ruckus somewhere, start a fight or something, drawing attention away from the gondola's. Once at the platforms, me and Mai will ride the gondola's back across the lake, and then run down to the warship, and fly out of here." I knew in the back of my mind, it was way to far fetched, it would never work.

"I'm in! You're so smart!" Ty Lee acknowledged me. I hate when she does that. She agreed with the plan though, which was odd. "I don't know if I can tightrope long enough to reach the end though. I did it once before Azula imprisoned us, but it wasn't to far."

"Well, just give it your best shot." What was I saying? Her best shot won't cut it. It has to be her most precise and accurate shot ever, flawless. "Now Mai, what do you think of the plan?"

"I know we'll all die in the end of this, but why not, it beats staying in this stinky old coop." Good spirit Mai! I don't get it… I understand Mai's depression for this place, but why does Ty Lee always have that big grin under her nose? It's kind of scary actually. "Okay, so we all clear on the plan? Tomorrow night, we'll break out of the Boiling Rock…"


	2. The Great Escape

_I ran to the lone water bender who was defending herself from a swarm of fire benders. _

"_Leave now and never come back!" I watched as she drew her hands up, followed by a wave of water crashing down on them, quickly freezing on contact. I drew out my whip, slashing a rear assassin from behind her. On the ground he lay, bleeding. I followed the woman to the heart of our city. Along the way, she bended the ice bridges leading into the town, stopping fire benders from entering the hold. _

"_How will the other warriors get back in?!" I asked, thinking she had just made a huge mistake._

"_Waterbend there way back in." That was a good thought. We could use her in the Elite Four, but she wasn't an assassin. We raced to the courtyard to find the fire navy general ordering his troops to barricade the new fire nation city. As we stood watching from behind an ice pillar, they slung a fire nation flag over the water flag, signaling the capture of our town for good. _

_Using her bending, the woman dug a whole into the ice floor, concealing us beneath. Into the sewers we went, running for our lives, not knowing where they led us. We came to a dead halt, and this was the worst situation at the time, for a small band of fire benders followed behind us. She quickly bended a whole out of the ceiling. I preached onto her shoulders for quick lookout. Clear, nothing in sight. I climbed out of the hole and reached down my hand for her to follow. _

"_Come on! Give me your hand!" I insisted. She looked at me in despair, "You can't pull me out of here we both know it. Run, now, I'll hold them off." Those were the last words I ever heard form her until she bended the hole away. I've always regretted leaving her there, but what was there I could do? My whip? Useless? My bending? That's it, I can't bend at all. Without nothing else to offer her, I made a run for it outside the icy walls surrounding our city. _

"Ugh… morning already? Some dream… what time is it?" I asked Mai, who was sitting Indian-style on the floor, "A little before noon, halfway through the month about. I lost track after they took the calendar off the wall in front of our cell," she responded.

"Good morning sleepy-head! Get up, we've got a big day ahead of us!" Oh yeah! That's right! The plan was tonight! I completely forgot! Ty Lee helped me up from my bed, supporting me as I walked to the gate.

"I'm starving… when's the next meal?" I asked as my stomach growled for food. Apparently the food contents didn't arrive yet, so lunch and dinner will be running later today. What a day for the food to go out, right? We'll need all of out strength to escape.

"We're still on for the thing, right?" I asked Mai.

"Mhm. Why wouldn't we be?" she responded. I laid back down on my bed, with my leg supported up by my other. I stared at the blank ceiling as Ty Lee and Mai shared each other's thoughts and feelings on the whole Azula situation. "What happened with that by the way? You didn't actually specify…" I asked. Ty Lee began to speak, but Mai covered her mouth knowing she'll go on and on.

"I saved Zuko, Azula tried to kill me, and I to her, Ty Lee stopped her from fire bending." Mai said, letting her grip off of Ty Lee's mouth. Hmm… I didn't think Ty Lee would have the guts to strike her own friend, but who knew? "I'm so sorry…" I lied. I really wasn't. I was sort of happy they were here, who else would help me escape? "… Can we do execute the plan after lunch? It makes more sense, cause the prisoners would be gathered in the cafeteria, where we start a riot, and we can escape easier when it's visible, which will help Ty Lee tightrope run." The girls nodded. I was shocked, I thought they would debate on it all.

Lunch came, and we resumed our predictable lives like every day; grab the lunch, sit in the third table from the back, try to avoid Ty Lee. I, for one, did things a little differently. Following our well-thought plan, I took a seat next to some guy with muscles, and a girl with no hair. I grabbed their orange juice and made a run for it. Manuvering through everyone, I spilled the beverage on somebody else, blaming it on the bald girl. They got caught up in a fight, which soon had everyone else defending each other, using the old 'you hit my friend, I'm gonna hit you!' shenanigan. That process carried on until the whole cafeteria was in a constant feud over a simple spilled glass of juice. The timing couldn't be better. With almost all of the fire navy down in the café, Ty Lee took her chance and raced to the outside. We lingered along, walking, as Ty Lee jumped from level to level.

We waited outside as Ty Lee attempted the tightrope. She stepped onto the black thick rope, jolting off like lightning. Me and Mai climbed onto a leaving gondola, with no one spotting us so far. Across the lake, Ty Lee waved as she made her last leap to land. Success! Now it's just a matter of time before me and Mai arrive at the destination. Down at the harbor, Ty Lee sneaked around the ship, keeping a close eye for any fire navy soldiers. She crawled through an open hatch in the side. Now inside the ship, she slyly snuck around, stopping g at every corner for a glimpse of the next hallway. As we planned, we ordered her to stay near the hatch long enough for us to get there.

Me and Mai prepared to make our exit from the roof of the gondola. Jumping off to the ground, we made our way down the rocks to the ship, where Ty Lee awaited our arrival. Followed by a few guards, we had to quick and agile. Mai grabbed some short and thin twigs, darting them at the soldiers. Ineffective, the soldiers pressed on towards us. We're almost there, close enough that I can feel the sea mist on my face. We snuck around to the bow of the boat, and were surprised to be exactly right; the hatch was there. We opened it and climbed in. No sign of Ty Lee. I knew it, I knew she would fall through.

"Come on, we have to find her!" I whispered under my breath. Mai agreed, and we jolted down the halls away form the hatch, for the fire navy was still most likely following us. Through a labyrinth of routes, we made our way into the cellar, where the supplied were kept. We searched for Ty Lee in there hoping she had gotten hungry and needed to eat something. I used my time wisely and stuffed some bread into my mouth before we left for the next room.

I stepped into the hall again, only to crash into Ty Lee, who was cart wheeling around the halls. "There you are, where the hell were you!?" I bolted at Ty Lee, mad as ever that she nearly destroyed out plan. "I was looking for you guys! Took you long enough…"

I let it go for the moment, and we proceeded down the halls. I smelt a foul aroma in the air, one of burning rubber or melting plastic. The boiler room, that's it. We were right next to the boiler room. We entered with caution, to find to benders powering the ship by fire bending. A few quick jabs from Ty Lee and they were knocked out cold. Thank goodness too, they didn't make a peep!

We crept up a nearby stairway, one that swirls upward with doors on the sides. Ty Lee took the rails, as me and Mai took the stairs. About halfway there, we heard bending and torture sounds. Falling beside us, two fire navy soldiers collapsed on the ground below.

With a warm welcome from Ty lee at the top, we entered the captain's den. No one was there. Just an empty room of nothingness.

"Where is the captain?" Ty lee. I had no logical answer, for I thought he would be there as well. I used his absence to my advantage and took control of the ship. Finally, we were out of there, sailing on the vast sea, to home.

"Where are we going anyways? Can we go to the Earth kingd--" said Ty Lee, interrupted by a familiar voice speaking over the PDA system.

"This is your princess Azula speaking. All guards of the ship and passengers report to the deck immediately! There's an intruder afoot…"


End file.
